Assessment of wild edible fruit plants in east Oromia region, Ethiopia

Wild edible fruit plants are essential standing in all parts of the world as a subsidiary food basket on daily basis. They are means of survival for rural communities with food and feed consumption, especially during times of drought, famine, shocks, and risks. This study intended to identify, and document scientific data, to get the constraint and opportunity potential of Wild edible fruit plants. Implementation through assessed species, partly used, habitat, mode of uses, flowering months, fruiting months, and factors of threats of wild edible fruits plants. Structured and semi-structured questionnaire interviews, key informant guided, and species quantification along 18 transact lines on 60 sampled quadrants were used to collect data in the west Hararghe zone at Daro-Lebu, Chiro, and Gumbi Bordode Weredas on six PAs. A total of 120 randomly selected sample households were interviewed for data collection. Both quantitative and qualitative data analyses were made. Descriptive analyses were made to analyze the data using SPSS version 16.0. The study embraced a total of 55 Wild edible fruit plants In addition to food values, these plants provide diverse benefits to the existing community including income, fuel wood, fencing, construction, medicine, and fodder. The top five highly impersonated wild edible fruit plant species by respondents were Psidium guajava, Mimusops kummel, Carissa spinarum L., Rosa abyssinica, Ficus sycomorus, and Oncoba spinosa forssk. However, most of them were threatened by anthropogenic factors through misconception utilities. The threat factors such as land degradation and grazing, clearing of forests for agriculture, fire, timber and charcoal, Stem, leaves, root, and bark harvest. To alleviate, the entire threat of wild edible fruit plant species; a community-based forest management system, awareness creation, and growing of wild edible fruit plant species at farms and homesteads level, is mandatory for any forest resource users. The other point is the absence of seedlings and saplings under wild edible fruit plant species in its habitat is an indicator of a regeneration problem. Therefore; the most threatened and unregenerated wild edible fruit plant species of the study areas priority should be given to the critical collection, domestication, in-situ and ex-situ conservation, and promotion of on-farm cultivation in the form of agroforestry systems. Further investigation should be considered on the collection, nutrient content analyses, in-situ and ex-situ conservation, wise utilization, and popularization of Wild edible fruit plants through forest management. These are vital points to be deliberated forward.